at+2.13+per+hour

[] Visited 6 Nov 2010 ** Question: ** Is it legal for waiters and waitresses to be paid below the minimum wage? ** Answer: ** According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, tipped employees are individuals engaged in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages. An employer may credit a portion of a tipped employee's tips against the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. An employer must pay at least $2.13 per hour. However, if an employee's tips combined with the employer's wage of $2.13 per hour do not equal the hourly minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference. The employer who elects to use the tip credit provision must inform the employee in advance and must be able to show that the employee receives at least the applicable minimum wage (see above) when direct wages and the tip credit allowance are combined. If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Also, employees must retain all of their tips, except to the extent that they participate in a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement.  U.S. Department of Labor | Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210 __ [|www.dol.gov] __ | Telephone: 1-800-827-5335 | TTY: | __ __ [|Contact Us] __ __

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Wage and Hour Division (WHD) ** (Revised July 2009) ** ** Fact Sheet #2: Restaurants and Fast Food Establishments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)  ** Restaurants/fast food businesses with annual gross sales from one or more establishments that total at least $500,000 are subject to the FLSA. Also, any person who works on or otherwise handles goods that are moving in interstate commerce is individually subject to the__ [|minimum wage] __ and __ [|overtime] __ protection of the FLSA. For example, a waitress or cashier **who handles a credit card transaction would likely be subject to the Act.** Covered non-exempt workers are entitled to a federal __ [|minimum wage] __ of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Wages are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered. __ [|Overtime] __: Overtime must be paid at a rate of at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Tipped employees who receive $2.13 per hour in direct wages are also subject to overtime at one and one-half times the applicable __ [|minimum wage] __, not one and one-half times $2.13. __ [|Youth Minimum Wage] __: The 1996 Amendments to the FLSA allow employers to pay a youth minimum wage of not less than $4.25 an hour to employees who are under 20 years of age during the first 90 consecutive calendar days after initial employment by their employer. The law contains certain protections for employees that prohibit employers from displacing any employee in order to hire someone at the youth minimum wage. ** __ [|Youth Employment] __ ** Youths 14 and 15 years old may work outside school hours in various non-hazardous jobs only under the following conditions: no more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, or 40 hours in a non-school week. Also, work may not begin before 7 a.m., nor end after 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when evening hours are extended to 9 p.m. Permitted occupations for 14 and 15 year old employees include those such as cashier, office/clerical work, bagging orders, cleanup work, hand-cleaning vegetables, etc. Cooking and baking cannot generally be performed by minors under age 16. Youths 16 and 17 years old may perform any non-hazardous job, for unlimited hours. Examples of equipment declared hazardous in restaurants include power-driven meat processing machines (saws, patty forming machines, grinding, chopping or slicing machines), commercial mixers, and certain power-driven bakery machines. Employees under 18 are not permitted to operate, feed, set-up, adjust, repair or clean such machines. Generally, no employee under 18 years of age may drive or serve as an outside-helper on a __ [|motor vehicle] __on a public road; but 17-year-olds who meet certain specific requirements may drive automobiles and trucks that do not exceed 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight for limited amounts of time as part of their job. **Such minors are, however, prohibited from making time sensitive deliveries (such as pizza deliveries or other trips where time is of essence) and from driving at night.** <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">** Typical Problems ** <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">If uniforms are required by the employer the cost of the uniform is considered to be a business expense of the employer. If the employer requires the employee to bear the cost, such cost may not reduce the employee's wages below the __ [|minimum wage] __ or cut into __ [|overtime compensation] __. <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">__ [|Exemptions from Overtime] __: Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from FLSA monetary requirements for an employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity or as an outside salesperson. An employee will qualify for exemption if all pertinent tests relating to duties, responsibilities and salary, as set forth in Regulations, __ [|29 CFR Part 541] __, are met. The salary and duties tests for the exemptions are fully described in Regulations Part 541. <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">** Where to Obtain Additional Information ** <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">** For additional information, visit our Wage and Hour Division Website: __ [|http://www.wagehour.dol.gov] __ and/or call our toll-free information and helpline, available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone, 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). ** <span style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">This publication is for general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of position contained in the regulations.